Technology on List of Newton, Mass. Residents' School Budget Concerns

Technology, health care costs and school building projects were the key concerns among residents Thursday night at a brief public hearing on the Newton School Department's fiscal 2014 budget.

The hearing lasted roughly a half an hour, with only eight residents standing up to speak.

Waban parent and PTO member Josh Weiss addressed the committee about technology funding in the schools, and a need for a more "strategic" funding plan to get devices into classrooms.

"My feeling is that there really is an infrastructure crisis in Newton," Weiss said. "What is missing is a consideration of educational infrastructure and it needs to be funded appropriately."

Technology funding has also been a consistent concern with Ward 1 committee member Geoff Epstein, who abstained in the budget straw vote last week.

"I'm happy with 98 percent of the budget," Epstein said during last week's straw vote. "It's a problem for me when we're going ahead into the digital education age...and we keep funding digital infrastructure at a 50 percent level."